The present invention relates to a method of fabricating an external timepiece element into which at least one decoration is inserted.
It has already been proposed to insert a decoration into an external timepiece element. EP Patent Application No. 2192454A1 describes a decoration deposited by electroforming on an external element by means of a mask which is filled with a metallic material. This decoration may also include an anchoring means ensuring that the decoration is properly held in the element concerned, this anchoring means being also deposited by electroforming. It will be seen below that, in the present invention, it is the external element which is created by electroforming and not the decoration as proposed in the aforecited Patent Application.
It has also been proposed to fix a precious or artificial stone to a substrate made of cire perdue which is metallised and then coated with a metallic layer deposited by electroforming, said layer holding the precious stone in place. This method is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2008/0066310A1.
An electroplating deposition is also used to hold a precious stone on a base in U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,745B1.